14 Firms Settle Illegal Trading Charges For $70M

By Erin Fuchs

Law360, New York (March 4, 2009, 12:00 AM ET) -- A Goldman Sachs Group Inc. subsidiary and 13 other specialist firms will pay $70 million in disgorgement and penalties to settle the federal government's charges of illegal proprietary trading, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has announced.

On Wednesday, the SEC filed and settled enforcement actions against the 14 firms, alleging unlawful proprietary trading (trading with the firms' own money) on regional and options exchanges.

Those exchanges include the American Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the Chicago Stock Exchange....